UKC

I randomly looked at Czech shops and guess what...
http://www.hudy.cz/friendy_vklinence_skoby/rock-empire-brass-chocks-set,732...
vs
http://fallingrocks.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=66

623 Czech Republic Koruna equals 17.866 British Pound Sterling! That's a set of micro nuts for more than 3 times cheaper than in the UK. I found Evolv Shaman shoes for 60~70 pounds as well. Okay, UK is obviously richer country and the prices will be different, but ordering from abroad is quite tempting...

What do you think? Has anyone ordered some climbing hardware from abroad?

In reply to PPP:

Try looking at c4 cams , cheaper here. I'm guessing it's because it's locally produced kit you are looking at?

In reply to PPP:

I would buy things like shoes etc but not nuts, if your placing your life onto them I would rather trust the seller and know that they are up to UK standard

In reply to coreybennett:

I'd trust my life to gear made in Czech Republic.

I'm less enthusiastic about gear made in China, even when it has UK/US branding. Wild Country found out the hard way.

In reply to PPP:

If it is sold in the EU, then it will generally have the appropriate European certification. I would also trust Czech gear.

Freedom of movement of goods means that if you can buy something somewhere in the EU you should be able to buy it anywhere in the EU. So if you want to save the cash, by all means buy from within the EU... from outside the EU things get more complicated and taxes and customs start to apply.

In reply to coreybennett:


Great, but that wasn't the point the OP was making.

In reply to PPP:

I've bought a pack from GoCragging (Italy) and a rope from Outdoorworks (Germany). Prices and service were excellent on both cases and I would do so again.

In reply to PPP: Compared to prices in Aus and NZ, the UK is very reasonably priced indeed.

In reply to Mike_Watson_99:

Yes, I am Hungarian and I usually order my gear from British webshops
Your webshop deals (DMM mostly) are 0,6-0,7 of the prices what I could find locally in either shops or webs (depends on change rate). Generally, stuff from local manufacturer are significantly cheaper. Just check some DMM or WC gear at German or Austrian shops.

Czech stuff are reliable, slightly inferior to DMM or WC, but worth their price.

In reply to PPP:
Interested to know where the £60-£70 Shaman's are if you wouldn't mind pointing them out.

In reply to PPP:
I recall at the time they humped the prices of boots up as it being :
A. Exchange rate ..
B. Wholesale oil price

Now, it seems to me that since both of these have drastically changed then we should be in for a price drop. Then again I could just be a cynic and see that retailers have used these excuses to screw us out of more money.

In reply to afrosam:

I definitely have seen them "somewhere", but can't remember whether it was on my phone or laptop - I will try to find them, but can't promise anything!

I can recall that I had to convert Czech currency to GBP, so that was definitely Czech shop.

In reply to afrosam:
Just checked my phone and found them.
http://restdayshop.cz/cs/evolv-shaman

I have no idea how reliable this shop is and whether they send to the UK either. However, I realise that flying there with Ryanair, buying all rack and spending some time climbing/hiking/travelling would still be cheaper than doing the same locally. I have heard that many British people come to my home country to have parties because of cheap booze. The beer is even better/cheaper in the Czech Republic rather than in Lithuania.

In reply to PPP:

Thanks, no idea whether they'd deliver to the UK or not, I must say my Czech is none existent

It's a shame we don't see the same price reductions in the UK when there are variations in the materials etc. I assume it's because the shops/manufacturers see that there are still people willing to pay ridiculous prices for brand new kit... I'm all for waiting a while and finding stuff in a sale.

In reply to afrosam & muppertfitter:



Arguably that's just screwing the retailers out of money.

In reply to PPP:

Check out the price of gear in Norway if you want to cheer yourself up

In reply to PPP: I quite like how in the UK 'tourist brands' (TNF etc) are more expensive. If they are willing to pay those prices then good for them. 'Real' brands are usually a little bit cheaper which is good.

In reply to PPP:

Don't live in the UK, but I get most of my stuff from the US.

Despite having spent hundreds in international couriers, I've saved money and gotten a much bigger range of gear to pick from. Often stuff is around half the price.

Here if its less than ~900USD, you don't have to pay any tax coming into the country - (I gather you guys don't have that luxury with VAT).

Just to pick the Hilleberg site as an example, http://www.hilleberg.com/home/products/tarra/tarra.php vs http://hilleberg.se/product/tarra , the latter being 50% more expensive. Damn.

Happy to buy things locally where fit is important, shoes or clothing for example. But for everything else, I have no interest in supporting either profiteering or grossly inefficient distribution mechanisms.

In reply to flaneur:




You probably do without even knowing it

In reply to afrosam:

I live in the Czech Republic and there is a Hudy Sport in every large town; it must be the biggest outdoor retailer here.

If they will take an order from the UK, the exchange rate is very much in your favour at around 35CZK to 1£ - in 6 years of making money exchanges I've very rarely seen it above 33 and it's often been below 30. The Czech National Bank is trying to keep the CZK low against the EURO to keep Czech industry competitive.

Good luck with the Czech language; I've been studying it for four years and it's still a big mystery!

Chris

In reply to Chris Shorter:

Hanibal.cz ships for free to the UK if you reach about 200 pounds mark. 6 wire gates, 3 HMS screwgates, hex set, micro wires set, nuts set, 4 x 60cm slings and 2 x 240cm slings comes for 120 quid...

I am not looking to buy it just now, but will probably do an order over winter or something.